Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, has a new op-ed out at First Things on the new Alabama law.
Hawkins writes, ”
Unlike most other recent pro-life legislation, this law protects the lives of babies conceived in rape or incest. This has enraged the chattering classes committed to abortion on demand. But as pro-life leaders conceived in rape like Ryan Bomberger illustrate, a pregnancy resulting from rape is only the beginning of a story, not the end. As a society, we don’t issue birth certificates with points ranking some people as better than others based on their parents’ race, income, marital status, or events on the night of conception. A birth certificate tells a simple truth: a unique life is in the world.
Those conceived in rape also deserve life. In our culture, such people are the most marginalized. The prejudice against them because of their birth story ignores their humanity and their potential. As Americans, haven’t we already learned that our courts and government should never decide that some people are less than human and less deserving of respect and protection?
The media has also made a lot of noise about the fact that Alabama’s law permits the imprisonment of those who commit abortions for money. But the answer is not to kill infants, but rather to help mothers and their children. The law rightly focuses on the predatory abortion vendors who daily profit from ending life—not the woman who contacts them in a moment of despair. Despite media misinformation, before Roe women were not the focus of prosecution related to abortion. Rather, abortionists drew attention away from their own deeds by dragging women into court.”
You can read the full op-ed here.
Students for Life of America along with other pro-life groups will be rallying in Alabama on Wednesday to show support for the Human Life Protection Act.
Hawkins also is covered in a recent Slate article about this shift in views on rape exceptions.
“The mainstream anti-abortion groups that now argue against exceptions make a simple claim: If even the earliest abortion is murder, then surely such exceptions are morally unreasonable. As the president of Students for Life of America, Kristan Hawkins, put it on Wednesday: “If my father would commit a sexual assault tonight, would the survivor of that horrific assault be justified in killing me? No, of course not. So what’s the difference?” Hawkins wrote a blog post after Todd Akin’s 2012 comments about her evolution toward this view. In 2014, Students for Life launched a “We Care” tour of college campuses, with the goal of equipping student activists with talking points to answer questions about why rape exceptions are misguided. Several popular anti-abortion speakers and authors—including one Rick Perry credited with changing his mind on the issue—describe themselves as having been conceived in rape.”
If you wish to share this blog in its entirety please e-mail Matt Lamb at mlamb@studentsforlife.orgfor permission.
Author: A. Lord
